Twitter (and other social media tools like it) is a unique communication and marketing tool specifically designed to mass distribute your message. By using Twitter techniques like @mentions and #’s you can address a message to a specific Twitter while sharing the content of that message with whomever else is listening. Hashtags (#’s) allow us to tag tweets by subject matter so other Twitters interested in that topic can find that information as well.

Becoming skilled at using social media tools is mission critical, especially if your business offers a seasonal product or service. At this time, social media is the only real-time engagement tool that allows you the opportunity to catch a potential customer’s attention at the very moment he/she is talking about, thinking about and looking for the product or service you offer.

To learn more on how you can better leverage the power of Twitter and other Social Media tools to share your business message and engage your customer base, subscribe to this blog and contact us today to request your FREE Digital Marketing Assessment.

Today’s post is a bit personal in nature and is inspired by real events. As I reflect on things that have happened in life I’ve come to understand that the only difference between broken pieces and art is perspective. To an artist, shattered pieces of glass scattered in the street are inspiration for a new masterpiece. In the artistically gifted’s eye, that same shattered glass lying useless in the street is seen as a beautiful array of colors reflected against a black backdrop. Life experiences (whether professional, personal or social) also have two perspectives from which they can be viewed. The same history to some appear to be insignificant and broken fragments of being – while another will see those same pieces as precious gems from which a great masterpieces will be created!

So I’ve learned that every seemingly broken piece in my life has the potential to be the making of something special. All I need to do is place those pieces in the hand of someone with a little more skill and vision than I have.

When it comes to engaging in social media marketing there may be little to no out-of-pocket cost, however, indirect cost – like employee time – can be quite significant. At the same time, the potential payout (or loss to those who chose not to engage) of engaging in a strategic social media marketing campaign is significant. Consider this… one of your customer service employees ask to set-up a twitter account so that he/she can service customers online and engage in conversations about your company’s products and services. You say yes of course because every opportunity to interact with current and potential customers is a chance to make$$$, right? Initially, there are just a few conversations about your products and services, but soon, your social media engagement is a major part of your customer service and sales efforts. Now, your employee is spending 25-50% of her/his workday engaging current and potential customers through social media. Assuming this trend continues throughout the year and that employee”’ salary is $50k, your indirect cost is now somewhere between $12k – $25k. Not to mention any ancillary cost, like custom graphics so your social media profile pages are consistent with your corporate brand imaging. Oh, and don’t forget the part-timer you now have to hire because your employee is only able to manage half the workload he was originally hired to do because he’s now serving as your Social Media Campaign Strategist. Once you tally all this up, the true cost of your social media marketing is between $15k – $30k (If you’re a small business where the business owner is the one engaging in social media marketing, just use your executive salary in the calculation. As an aside, you could probably hire a consultant for a fraction of that cost.)

Now you’re re-considering whether or not social media marketing is really worth the potential investment, right? Well, before you go there, let me remind you of the opportunity cost for not engaging in social media marketing. Let’s say you know that your close ratio is 15% (1 of every 15 people contacted by your sales efforts spends money with your company) and your full scale social media marketing campaign engages approximately 200 new people each month. If we apply your 15% close ratio (reducing the number of folks to 150 to account for those who are current customers – thought you may actually end of increasing their spend because you’ve deepened your relationship with them through your social media engagement) your company stands to gain about 22 new customers each month! (It’s probable that your close ratio will actually increase because you will now be dealing with folks who already have a trusted relationship with your company) may And just to complete the calculation let’s say that your average value of each new customer is somewhere around $250 you’ve earned (or lost if you don’t engage in social media marketing) $5,625 per month or $67,500 per year. Not a bad return on a measly $15,000 investment huh?

So when you think of the true cost of engaging in social media consider the indirect cost. At the same time, take a look at your potential loss if you don’t participate, because the fact of the matter is that folks are probably already talking about your products and services online and you’re not involved in those conversations you are missing a huge opportunity and probably loosing competitive ground in your marketplace.

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